D&PL/Syngenta deal will create new choices

DELTA AND PINE Land Company has acquired licenses from Syngenta to deliver biotechnology products to cotton producers worldwide. Under the agreements, D&PL obtains global licenses to develop and commercialize Syngenta's insect-resistance traits, as well as licenses to other technologies that may be useful in developing products for use in cotton and soybean seed.

Pending regulatory approval, the first product to be commercialized under the agreements will be VipCot, an insect-control trait. Subsequent varieties are expected to contain VipCot stacked with a herbicide-tolerant trait and thereafter with another insect-resistant gene.

“We believe the farm community wants another trait with a different mode of action and another trait supplier,” said Tom Jagodinski, D&PL president and CEO, at a recent meeting in Scott, Miss.

Expanded greenhouse facilities and winter nursery capabilities will be used by D&PL to get the first VipCot products out as soon as possible.